Ottawa adding $30M to redevelopment of former Bay building

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This article was published 23/05/2024 (472 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government is providing an additional $30 million to support the redevelopment of the former downtown Hudson’s Bay Co. into a housing and cultural hub for Indigenous people, the Free Press has learned.

Multiple sources confirmed the funding will be announced this morning by officials from the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, which is leading the project, and the federal government, including regional minister and St. Boniface MP Dan Vandal.

The $30 million is on top of the $65 million already committed by the federal government.

At a gala Thursday night to mark the 25th anniversary of SCO, Liberal MP Terry Duguid spoke about the importance of the project.

“Folks, we have a big announcement tomorrow,” Duguid (Winnipeg South) told the crowd, in a remark he acknowledged was a bit of a tease.

Ottawa, the province and the city have all committed to supporting the redevelopment first announced in April 2022. At the time, the federal government said it would contribute $65 million, the province $35 million ($25 million for historic preservation and $10 million for housing) and the city said it would provide tax incentives.

The project, named Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn, was originally projected to cost about $130 million, but late last year the budget had grown to about $200 million.

In December, the SCO announced it would be collaborating with True North Real Estate Development on both the revamp of the former Bay building and the re-development of Portage Place mall.

Both organizations signed a memorandum of understanding to co-ordinate their projects, and SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels called the collaboration “true economic reconciliation” at the time.

True North Real Estate Development, an arm of the company that owns the Winnipeg Jets, plans to sell the skywalk linking Portage Place and the Hudson’s Bay building to SCO for $1.

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“The creation of Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn in Winnipeg will revitalize our downtown and move us from promises to action,” Vandal said in a statement.

“Congratulations to the Southern Chiefs’ Organization on this project that will stand as an example of reconciliation in action to the entire country. I am pleased that our collaboration will make a positive generational impact.”

The SCO and True North Real Estate Development did not comment Thursday.

A news conference, hosted by Vandal at Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn, on “federal investments in the Southern Chiefs’ Organization in support of a First Nations-led urban development project to advance economic reconciliation and downtown revitalization” has been scheduled for 10 a.m. today.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.